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I travel around and hear from so many kids. Their parents say they were always very picky but they watch the show and they want to try stuff. The show is entertainment but I think it has done so much for the public perception of what food can be.

We’re adults. We’re the ones who should teach the kids what’s good to eat. I don’t think the government should ever regulate what we eat at home but we’re feeding them in school with tax dollars. Quite frankly if my tax dollars are being spent to feed kids I’d rather feed them better food.

We are not really privy to all that crazy stuff that goes on in the show. I go to work eat and talk about food. The wild things happen when we aren’t around. I expected Top Chef to last three or four seasons and we are now shooting season ten.

Asian food is very easy to like because it hits your mouth very differently than European food does. In European food there may be two things to hit – maybe sweet and salty maybe salty-savory but Asian kind of works around plus you have that distinct flavor that’s usually working in Asian food.

There’s the issue of hunger and there’s an issue of if you’re going to cut out food programs. We should be focusing on healthy food. Right now fruits and vegetables are very expensive. So what can we do on the policy side to bring the cost of fruits and vegetables down?

As a chef I had started working with groups like Share Our Strength and various local food banks in New York raising money for hunger-related issues. And not only me but the entire restaurant industry has been very focused on this issue.